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Investigating the effectiveness of cognitive training: Transfer, and maintenance

Author

Yeo, Jia Ying

Date of Issue

2016-05-11

School

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Abstract

Working memory training studies have demonstrated transfer to many higher-order cognitive
abilities, that in turn affects daily life functioning. While transfer effects have been widely
researched on, only a small proportion of these studies examined whether these effects can be
maintained over a long period of time. The present study aims to investigate the effects of
working memory training on transfer to other cognitive abilities, and examine whether these
effects can be maintained after the intervention has ended. A group of healthy young adults
were trained on a dual n-back task for 20 sessions. A cognitive test battery measuring for
transfer effects were administered before and after training, and two weeks after training has
ended. Compared to the control group, the training group showed improvements on the
trained task, and far transfer effects to processing speed and recognition memory, while no
near transfer effects was found. However, far transfer effects were maintained during the
follow-up session. These findings suggest the need to examine the maintenance of transfer
effects due to its practical importance. Future studies should identify the factors that could
result in maintenance of these effects.